#PPI: are you missing out on compensation?

I find it a bit surprising that the whole PPI thing is still going on. This is a scandal that seems to have been around for ever. If there is anyone out there who hasn’t heard of it, PPI is payment protection insurance. If you took out a loan, mortgage or credit card in the past then there’s a chance that you also (possibly unwittingly) took out PPI. The idea of PPI was that it would pay out loan, card or other repayments if the policyholder was unable to do so – say if they were unable to work through illness. About 45m PPI policies were sold from 1990 but many policyholders didn’t know they had it – and for some, the plans were useless anyway as they wouldn’t have been able to claim (for example, they couldn’t claim for inability to work if they were self-employed).

As a result, for years now anyone who was sold PPI has been able to claim compensation and the banks who sold it have paid out £40 billion in claims. There’s a deadline of 29 August 2019 for claims for compensation so we still have a while to go on this. Indeed, both Barclays and Lloyds this week said they were putting aside more money to cover for future PPI claims. If you think you might have a PPI claim, then don’t use a claims company, do it yourself. Dig out the documentation, write to the bank saying you were mis-sold and if they don’t come back to you, go to the Financial Ombudsman.

I’ve never made a PPI claim: as far as I can remember, I’ve never had PPI. I’ve only ever had one personal loan (I imagine most PPI claims are related to personal loans) and that was at least 20 years ago. I don’t have any documents relating to it – it was only a tiny loan and I paid it back early, within a year, I think. But now I have a nagging doubt that perhaps I did have PPI on that loan. I do remember who it was with (an offshoot of my bank) but frankly, that’s all. I think if I could be bothered I could get a copy of my credit report and find details of the loan. I could then see if I can claim. But to be honest, I think I’d probably be wasting time more usefully spent doing something dull but worthy – such as clearing out the garage. I’ll just have to put any thoughts of compensation to the back of my mind. But if you're less lazy than I am (not hard) then get to it: a little bit of work and you could be quids in.